


Fire and Ice

by mortenavida



Series: Stony Bingo 2019 [2]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Angst, Asexual Character, Asexual Steve Rogers, M/M, No Dialogue, Not Beta Read, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Recovery, Tony Stark Still Has Arc Reactor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-11
Updated: 2019-02-11
Packaged: 2019-10-26 11:18:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17744945
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mortenavida/pseuds/mortenavida
Summary: It wasn't the explosions or the sound of gunfire that usually brought Tony to his knees. It wasn't even vast open spaces and aliens anymore. No, what got his mind racing and his heart being too fast for his body to catch up was extremes. Too cold and the only thing he thought of was the water dripping down his filthy shirt in the dark of a cold cave. Too hot and all he could see was the blazing fire and burning desert around his captors.





	Fire and Ice

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the 2019 Stony Bingo.
> 
> Square O5 - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
> 
> This just came because everyone talks about Tony's stress from NY, but never from the caves.

It wasn't the explosions or the sound of gunfire that usually brought Tony to his knees. It wasn't even vast open spaces and aliens anymore. No, what got his mind racing and his heart being too fast for his body to catch up was extremes. Too cold and the only thing he thought of was the water dripping down his filthy shirt in the dark of a cold cave. Too hot and all he could see was the blazing fire and burning desert around his captors.

 

When the nights got too cold to handle with simply a blanket was when the Ten Rings liked to come demand he follow their orders. After all, who could deny the chance to torture someone with two elements and not just one? It took only a week for Tony to associate “cold” with “torture” and he’s hated it since.

 

When the air around him grew hot, sometimes he could still feel the blisters on his fingers and the lines of broken skin from where the fire bled through the Mark I. While heat signaled an escape and a rebirth, it was also desperation and helplessness.

 

A sudden change between the two was somehow even worse, and Tony could do nothing but shiver from the cold as his body felt as if it were on fire.

 

Not that he would ever tell someone of this. How could he? Steve had it worse -- he had been frozen for decades under the Arctic. If anyone was allowed to complain about how cold it was, then it would be Steve. And Pepper, sweet Pepper, was  _ dropped  _ into flames by Tony himself. He couldn't dare to say it was too hot without her anguished face staring at him.

 

So Tony kept it to himself. If his team noticed when he would shiver in the fall, they never said anything. If they noticed when he would be constantly in front of a fan in the summer, they ignored it.

 

The only person who seemed to notice was Steve. Tony wasn’t sure how he felt about the Captain knowing, but since nothing was said about it, he kept on. There were days he woke up with extra blankets on him, and other times Steve would walk by a fan and turn it on without a word.

 

It wasn’t until he woke up, Steve arms wrapped around him tightly, that Tony thought to ask what was going on. Steve’s explanation was simple -- he had read Tony’s file and figured he had issues with things regarding the cave. Tony was quiet before pressing closer to Steve, mumbling something about Steve just staying in his room.

 

Steve didn’t leave after that. He came down every evening to pull Tony out of his lab and go to bed. They didn’t even have sex, but Tony felt as though this was the most intimate relationship he had ever had. Him and Steve, curled together in the dark of the night with only the reactor to glow in the room.

 

When Tony was brave enough to ask why Steve never pushed him for sex, Steve had smiled, pressed a kiss to Tony’s forehead and easily explained it. Not only was he asexual, but Tony deserved to be love for more than just what his body could give.

 

Love didn’t chase away the feeling of dread during the cold. Love didn’t ease his spiral of helplessness when heat crept through Tony’s system. But Love kept him grounded.

 

For now.


End file.
